SCCL to e-Auction Coal Mines Cancelled by Supreme Court

After the Supreme Court directed the companies to stop mining from coal blocks in 214 out of the total 218 coal blocks, the Singareni Colleries Company Limited or SCCL is busy setting up the new tenders to secure coal blocks.

An ordinance by the Centre has allowed the companies to bid afresh with a condition who had bagged the mines in the earlier discretionary allocation system. The ordinance says that any government company which had not formed a joint venture with a private party shall be allotted a mine if it has been allotted a power project on the basis of competitive bidding for the tariff.

“The state government will either send proposals to the Centre or request it to sanction the coal blocks to it or the SCCL would take part in e-auction of coal blocks directly”, said a senior official in SCCL.

Earlier, Supreme Court had directed the allotted companies to stop mining or else pay an additional levy of Rs. 295 per tone.